Rural Baseball Inc. won its second game at the Southwest Washington Senior Babe Ruth Tournament in Kelso on Friday, beating the Clark County Cubs 5-4 in nine innings.
The win sent the Dirtbags to the semifinals of the tournament, and also sent them through to the regional tournament, which will be held next week in Calgary, Alberta.
RBI trailed 2-0 going into the sixth inning, before Keaton Thompson (MWP) reached on an error and got to second, where Tre Groninger (Oakville) came in to run for him. Groninger stole third, and after Connor Darnell walked, the Dirtbags pulled off a first-and-third steal play to get on the scoreboard. That still left RBI a run down, and despite leading off the seventh with back-to-back singles, a double play sent the Dirtbags to their last gasp.
That gasp turned out to be a strong one, as Garrett Keeton (PWV) laced an RBI single into left field to tie the game and — after a scoreless bottom of the inning — send it to extras.
Playing under MLB rules, the Dirtbags scored their free runner in the top of the eighth on a squeeze play, but the Cubs tied it back up on a passed ball with two outs.
In the ninth, RBI brought a run in on an error, before Gavin Frewing (Toledo) provided the crucial insurance run with an RBI single to make it 5-3.
The insurance proved necessary when an error — RBI’s sixth of the game — gifted Clark County a run, but Keeton came through to get one last strikeout and end it.
Austin Chapman (Napavine) led the Dirtbags with two hits and also was hit by a pitch. Blake Howard (PWV) went 1 for 4 with a walk, while Keeton had a knock and a pair of free passes.
With its tickets to Calgary already punched, RBI moved on to the latter rounds of the SWW tournament, where it got shellacked by Kelso Premier 10-0 before falling to T-Elite 9-2.
